Broadening the Philosophical Essence of Marketing

With the ongoing, rapid-fire changes in technologies of artificial intelligence (AI), the strongly operational focus of marketing on marketspace exchange processes may cause its demise as marketing processes simply become techno-automated ways – run by algorithms and bots – of finding and filling needs and wants. If marketing were to disappear as an academic field, and as a department within organizations, it would be a big loss in terms of the timeless, enduring essence of marketing-like processes and millennia-old consumer culture. In this commentary, we advocate for strengthening a millennia-old essence: a deep understanding of the recurring construction, institutionalization, and (un)fulfillment of the complex of desire, which is an inexorable necessity to decipher the dynamics of human (and emerging machinic, hybrid) existence. Our proposed framework positions marketing as an interdisciplinary field centered on the dynamics of desire rather than market transactions alone. By redefining the discipline around this foundational phenomenon, we offer a future-oriented vision that preserves marketing's relevance, enhances its theoretical depth, and equips it to address emerging realities in an increasingly complex world.